But the 43-year-old denied he was leaving the embassy for health reasons.

He said: "I am leaving the embassy soon - but perhaps not for the reasons the Murdoch press and Sky News are saying at the moment.

"Being detained in various ways in this country without charge for four years and in this embassy for two years which has no outside area, therefore no sunlight… it is an environment in which any healthy person would find themselves soon enough with certain difficulties."

He said: "How can it be that such a situation in Europe arises where a person is held and their freedom of movement restricted and they are kept from their family while a foreign government builds an ever larger case against that person and their organisation?

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"Somehow the situation has developed here for me… where basic rights that were previously universally accepted in Europe are no longer respected."

He added that there had been "significant mis-reporting" surrounding his case.

He said: "Firstly - I have not been charged with an offence here in the UK or in Sweden at any time.

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"Secondly, the basis under which my asylum was granted here is the ongoing US investigation into me and WikiLeaks.

"It is often falsely reported that women in Sweden have accused me of the serious crime of rape. That is false.

"This is the situation which is being seized upon, at the time of the conflict between me and the US, the Swedish government resurrected a matter that had been previously dropped."

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Mr Patino said: "There has been two years of great uncertainty and a lack of legal protection. This situation must come to an end. Two years is simply too long.

"It is time to free Julian Assange.”

He added that he would seek to meet with the British Foreign Secretary in the next few weeks to discuss resolving the situation.

Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks spokesman, said: "The plan, as always, is to leave as soon as the UK Government decides to honour its obligations in relation to international agreements."

Mr Assange requested asylum in June 2012 and has been under continued surveillance with police stationed outside the embassy since.

He faces an arrest warrant in Sweden over allegations he sexually assaulted two women and would be arrested if he left the embassy building.